


Learning to Swim

by anonymous_sibyl



Category: Superman Returns
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-24
Updated: 2006-07-24
Packaged: 2017-10-03 06:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymous_sibyl/pseuds/anonymous_sibyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Richard has got to be the only man in the state, the country, maybe the world, who kicks back in his kitchen and has a beer with Superman.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning to Swim

**Author's Note:**

> This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/). None of the media or characters written about in my fanfiction belong to me and I make no profit from these works. 

He keeps a picture on his desk, of himelf, Lois, and Jason, the ideal family unit, all white teeth and casual summer clothes, smiling at the camera. People ask him about it all the time.

"Is that your son?" (No.)  
"Is that your entire family?" (Yes. No. Maybe.)

Rarely, if ever, do people ask about the smudge of deep red at the edge of the frame. They assume it's the sun or the flash, and they think it's a shame that such a nice picture was ruined, but it's so sweet he displays it anyway. No one ever thinks it might be a cape, blowing in the breeze as its wearer took off in flight, and no one ever thinks that Superman might be a part of the family.

He sure as hell has the teeth to fit in, though. They're perfect, square and white. Farm boy teeth. Super-strong alien teeth.

That day, while everyone else ate potato salad and hot dogs, Superman saved several hundred people from a volcanic eruption, stopped a bank robbery, and rescued a little girl from a well, before making his way back to the picnic he'd left so abruptly. By the time he got there, Jason had fallen asleep and Lois had stomped off to write.

Richard had put Jason to bed. Richard had said that Mommy was busy working and she would come check on Jason later. Richard had said that Superman was a hero and had gone to save people, but he was sure Superman loved Jason very much. Richard had said "I love you, son" and "goodnight" just as Richard had said every night since Jason was small.

Aside from Lois' high emotions, Jason's glee, and Richard's fear that someday he'll be exposed as an inadequate father because he can't fly Jason to Spain for lunch or save a busload of senior citizens from crashing into the river, this whole family thing is complicated. Does Clark get invited to Christmas, or does Superman? How involved can Superman be before people begin to talk about Lois and how she should have kept her legs shut, and before worse people start to think about bargaining chips and pawns instead of little boys? Heck, who will pay for the kid's braces?

He will, of course. Well, he and Lois. Clark doesn't make enough money and Superman doesn't pull in a salary at all, even though he could probably find a grateful orthodontist who'd do the work _gratis_.

Richard's wondering if they're going to need a kryptonite drill bit for any future dental work, and, if so, where to get one, and if it'll hurt Jason at all, when he hears that sound, that whoosh-rumble that happens when something that wasn't there displaces the air that was.

"Beer?" he asks without looking, and nods toward the refrigerator. "Help yourself."

Superman does, and Richard has got to be the only man in the state, the country, maybe the world, who kicks back in his kitchen and has a beer with Superman. He wishes it were Clark. He really wishes he could stop thinking of them as two different people. He thought it would get easier when Superman told them about secret identities, but it got worse. After all, Lois works with Clark. So does he. At least Superman travels a lot.

Superman nods in the direction of Jason's bedroom. "He's asleep. I checked on my way in."

"He was tired."

"Wore himself out swimming," Superman says, before popping the top off his beer. "I saw his swimsuit and towel hanging in the bathroom."

"Yeah."

The thing about Superman that's puzzling--and angering, at least to Lois--is that he doesn't apologize for missing picnics or school plays. He never says he's sorry for leaving early or not saying goodnight. He knows what he does is important, and he assumes, no expects, that everyone around him will understand that. Richard does. Jason might. Lois doesn't.

He knows there was a mother, a woman who raised the boy who became Superman, and he wonders how she feels about that. Was Superman always this way, or was there a time before he was Superman? Was he ever just a boy, like Jason?

"I used to like to swim."

That answers that question. Richard nods for Superman--or maybe it's Clark now, despite the costume--to continue.

"There was a lake near my home. If I finished my chores, I could go. It was..." His smile is far away, and he closes his eyes briefly. "Nice. It was nice."

"Me, too. Swimming." Richard looks awkwardly at the table, not wanting this to seem like a competition. "We had a pool. Two. Indoors and out. I'd swim after school, for hours."

"You taught Jason?"

He had. He'd bought water wings and a nose plug, and bandaged the scratches he got on his arms from a scared little boy who held on too tight. "He was afraid at first, but when he realized I wouldn't let him go, he relaxed."

"No. You wouldn't let him go."

"No. I wouldn't."

For a moment, it's quiet in the kitchen, then both men turn their heads toward the open door when they hear Lois' voice rise in a curse.

"Computer crashed," Clark, because it's definitely Clark speaking now, says.

"Didn't save her file," Richard says, because he knows her just as well, if not better.

"Should you...?"

"No. She'd ask if she needed help." Richard opens another beer for himself, then a second for Superman. "You missed a nice picnic."

"I know."

"There are pictures on the counter. Copies. For you."

Superman barely glances at them, but Clark Kent seems to smile. Richard can't keep this straight anymore, so he closes his eyes, and when he opens them, he's alone in the kitchen and Lois is calling his name.


End file.
